The invention disclosed herein is a die which is installed in an ammunition case reloading press for performing case reloading operations that have been traditionally performed by using three individual dies. An important feature of the new die is that for reloading a plurality of ammunition cases of the same size, the die body is screwed into the reloading press and remains there until all of the reloading operations such as decapping and sizing the cases and pressing bullets into the cases are performed. Another important feature is that the sizer element for resizing the outside of the ammunition cases is separable from the die body.
The conventional case reloading process involves a sequence of steps which are usually performed by manual operation of a reloading press. Reloading presses are equipped with a head into which one die can be screwed or with a turret into which up to three dies, usually, can be screwed. If only one die can be mounted to the press, it will usually have to be removed and replaced with a second die and then a third die to complete all of the steps involved in reloading ammunition cases. Typically, a press has a manually operable lever which, through a linkage system, drives a ram toward and away from one of the dies at a time. The ram has a case holder at its end facing the die or dies so that the case can be pushed into a die and retracted from the die.
Typically, the first die used in a series of reloading operations comprises a generally cylindrical externally threaded body in which there is a central bore terminating at its lower end with a case sizing bore of reduced diameter which is substantially equal to the desired outside diameter of the case. This die customarily has a decapping pin coaxial with the bore. The first operation of the ram forces the case through the reduced diameter bore to resize the outside diameter of the case. At the same time, the decapping pin extends through the flash hole leading to the primer pocket in the case head so as to drive the spent primer or cap out of the pocket.
The second step is to expand or flare the bullet receiving mouth of the case. This, in conventional practice, involves using another die which may be in a turret next to the first one used or it may have to be screwed into the head of the press as a replacement for the first die. The second die contains a plug at whose bottom end there is a reduced diameter portion and a slightly increased diameter portion. The case is forced over the reduced diameter portion for sizing the inside diameter of the neck of the case and the larger diameter portion causes the case to flare out slightly at its mouth to shape it for easy entry of a bullet.
After a batch of spent cartridges are sized on their outsides and after their necks are expanded and mouths are flared with the two different dies described above, each of the cases has a new primer or cap inserted into it by using a cap or primer inserter that is mounted on the press itself or is independent of the press. After all of the cases are primed, they are charged with powder in an amount commensurate with the caliber of the case.
The next and final step, in conventional practice, is to screw a bullet seating die in the press or, if there is a turret for more than one die, to rotate the turret until the third die used for bullet seating is aligned with the ram of the press. Then, the cases which have been charged with powder and in which a bullet has been manually set, are placed successively on the case holder of the ram and driven into the third die which seats the bullet into the case and at the same time usually crimps the mouth inwardly to seize the bullet.
It should be evident that it would be highly desirable if a single die body could be screwed into the head or turret of a press and could remain there for sizing the outside diameter of the cases, sizing the neck end and flaring the mouth of the cases, decapping the cases and pressing the bullet into the cases and crimping the cases to securely grip the bullets when the bullets are at the proper depth in the case. The invention disclosed herein provides for performing all of these steps with a die body that is screwed into the press only once for a particular batch of cases that are to be reloaded and stays there until reloading of the batch is completed. Provision is also made for securing the ammunition case outside diameter resizing element coaxially with the die body and for removing this element from coaxial relationship to the die body for enabling performance of several other case conditioning operations with the die.
An approach to reducing the number of dies necessary to perform a case reloading sequence is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,291. This patent teaches using one die to size the outside diameter of the cases and to decap them and to use a second die for performing some of the functions discussed above. The second die, however, is not simply turned into the head or turret of a reloading press and allowed to stay there for all operations that are to be performed on the cases of a particular size that are to be reloaded. Instead, some of the operations are performed when the second die is screwed into the press in one orientation and other operations are performed after the die has been unscrewed and inverted and rescrewed into the press. A disadvantage of this is that the die has to be readjusted relative to the press ram and the case carried thereon so that overstressing or undersizing a case does not take place.